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Fulton J Modular Speakers

J

jaykoly

Active Member
Has anyone ever had any experience with these speakers? I am going to look at them tomorrow morning. These are for sale by the original owner, he bought them in the mid 70's new. The large cabinet on the bottom is the base module, there is midrange module and an RTR electrostatic Array on top. They can be biamped if desired. This was some info I found.

Back in the 1970's the Fulton J-Modular System speakers were the ne-plus-ultra of audiophile perfection. Made in Minneapolis by Bob Fulton of FMI (Fulton Musical Industries), these were immense, room-filling speakers that had by far the best bass response and top end (thanks to their RTR electrostatic arrays) available. In 1976 a pair of Fulton J-Modulars would set you back more than $2,000, an astronomical sum at the time. One of the things Bob Fulton was famous for was the incredible accuracy of his speakers, all the way down to 20Hz.

Description: Four-way, five–drive-unit, floor-standing loudspeaker (J-Modular, including two Model 80s). Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Power capacity: 60W program.
Dimensions: 17.5" H x 9.75" W x 8.5" D (Model 80); 33" high x 18" W by 18" D (Model J woofer).
Price: $188/pair (Model 80, 1973), $1196/pair (Model J-Modular, 1975–1977); no longer available (2006).
Manufacturer: Fulton Musical Industries, 4428 Zane Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55422 (1973–1977). Company no longer in existence (2006).
 
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Never heard them but have heard two things about them: Like most of the Fultons, but even more so, they are reputed to be very musical and revealing at the same time, not all that common a combination of qualities. But Bob Fulton was a tinkerer, and aspects of the speakers were being changed constantly, so its very difficult to nail down exactly what it is that you have.
If I were going to go listen to them, I'd go being rich, since it might be a let down to hear them, but not be able to afford them.
 
I picked up Fulton Modulars last year on behalf of another AK'r - I think it was determined that they were not the "J" modulars but another version, as determined by the type of low frequency unit in the set. I think an AK'r ID'd these as "E" modulars.

Interesting speakers! Here's the thread:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=189658

FultonJ001.jpg


Good luck!
 
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The owner of these said he met Bob Fulton and he actually tweaked these for him once. The speakers according to him sounded even better when Bob got done with them. I am really excited to hear these.
 
My friend has 2 sets of FMI Mod Js. They sound very nice indeed with extreme low-end response and open, transparent highs. Make sure you have a large room for them and you will need considerable power to drive them as the crossover network is complex and consumes power. A high current amplifier with high damping factor is a must to control the large driver in the base module .

The crossover networks are very different on the two sets he has, testament to Bob Fulton constantly tweaking them. The crossovers are strange beasts and have coils from automotive starter solenoids as inductors. Also, the capacitors he used are junk. A rebuild of the crossover with modern high quality components would be of major benefit to the sound.

Your pic of the Mod J system is missing the top cover that hides the FMI 80s and RTR electrostatics. Be aware of that in setting the purchase price. Having the owners manual is a must because the connection options (single, bi, tri amplifier) are confusing. The binding posts are miniscule and do not support using modern heavy gauge lugs or cables. My friends protection circuit breaker is very sensitive and trips often at not overly loud levels, be sure to check for that before you buy.

If anyone has knowledge of the crossover schematic or knows of someone who has knowledge, please forward information. My friend 'blew' the crossovers on one of the sets and we want to rebuild it.
 
Well,

Auditioned these this mourning and they do sound excellent! All drivers and the tweeter arrays are 100% working. Cabinets are excellent condition also. So I purchased them. My only dumb move was to bring the wrong vehicle to bring them home. My measurements leave a little to be desired. So I brought home the mid modules and the electrostaic arrays and have to return to pick up the base modules. The base modules are huge and extremely heavy. There is a 12 inch down firing woofer and a 8 or 10 inch front firing woofer in each one. The connections are very confusing and if anyone could help me with the proper way to hook these up I would much appreciate that. I do not have the operators manual to help me. Once I get the base modules I will get pictures on here.
 
The moral of the story is live close to where your favs were made...:D MN for Fultons, PNW for Carvers...

2 sets? Yikes. And yes, the coils are starter inductors from a Packard car!

From here:


They were called "wroinkers" at the Fulton factory, because thats the sound of a car starting.
 
I saw those listed on CL and had to resist. They looked very interesting but I have way too many speakers the way it is. It will be fun to see some better pictures and your listening impressions of them.

Denny
 
jjh92 said:
My friend has 2 sets of FMI Mod Js. They sound very nice indeed with extreme low-end response and open, transparent highs. Make sure you have a large room for them and you will need considerable power to drive them as the crossover network is complex and consumes power. A high current amplifier with high damping factor is a must to control the large driver in the base module .

The crossover networks are very different on the two sets he has, testament to Bob Fulton constantly tweaking them. The crossovers are strange beasts and have coils from automotive starter solenoids as inductors. Also, the capacitors he used are junk. A rebuild of the crossover with modern high quality components would be of major benefit to the sound.

Your pic of the Mod J system is missing the top cover that hides the FMI 80s and RTR electrostatics. Be aware of that in setting the purchase price. Having the owners manual is a must because the connection options (single, bi, tri amplifier) are confusing. The binding posts are miniscule and do not support using modern heavy gauge lugs or cables. My friends protection circuit breaker is very sensitive and trips often at not overly loud levels, be sure to check for that before you buy.

If anyone has knowledge of the crossover schematic or knows of someone who has knowledge, please forward information. My friend 'blew' the crossovers on one of the sets and we want to rebuild it.
Click to expand...

The Capacitors he used are not junk robert fulton used what sounded like real music period!! if you change them you will ruin the speakers IMMHO

I own one of the last iterations
 
I am still looking for info on how exactly these should be hooked up. The crossover in the tweeter array has an input and then outputs for woofer and maybe the mid module? There are tweeter and woofer pots also in that crossover. Does anyone know for sure how to best hook these up?
 
To be sure of the best hookup you might test using in-room analyzer software.

A starting point for a simple setup is to try the mid and tweeter modules hooked together from your first amp and use a separate amp for the woofers since you'll likely find the output from those to be immense.

BTW only 3 bills for this is a super :banana::banana::banana: any day of the week!
 
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They are nice. I had a set for a while.

If I would have had room they would still be around but double 9s and Js just won't fit in the same room.

:no:

My set had a square grill cover "tent" that was the same size as the sub woofers and enclosed the satellite and electrostatic array on the top and 3 sides (was open on the rear). This dressed them up a lot as you could position the satellite and electrostatic any way you wished without seeing what was going on "behind the curtain"

jaykoly said:
I Paid $300 for the whole setup.
Click to expand...

Add a zero on the end and that is what I got for the ones I sold

:yes:
 
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What a wonderful deal!

The last time I heard a pair must have been in 1980 or '81, although I did listen to "J" Clone that was also very nice. The owner and another audio/diy guy (who later co-designed the Carver Amazing speakers) really pulled out all the stops on that one.

Either one would have been my last pair of speakers.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
Those e-stat modules on yours, do they have 6 or 15 tweeters in there? On the back the modules should have model numbers on them.
 
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